'Being Good' at Maths: Fabricating Gender Subjectivity

Abstract

Current research in mathematics education places emphasis on the analysis of men and women’s accounts about their life trajectories and choices for studying, working and developing a career that involves the learning and teaching of mathematics. Within this realm, the present study aims to highlight how mathematics, gender and subjectivity become interwoven by focusing the analysis on a single case study, that of Irene -a teacher in her early 40s. Based on how she articulates hegemonic discourses and narrates her relation to mathematics from the time she was a schoolgirl up till her recent work as teacher and her endeavours as participant in a professional development teacher training course, we argue how ‘mathematics’ becomes a mythical object for her subjectification. Irene as a female subject appropriates through her narrative the socially, culturally and historically constructed ideals about maths and gender and essentialises mathematical ability. Our study reveals how dominant discourses concerning ‘mathematics’ and ‘gender’ relate closely to subjectivity fabrication.